You Look Familiar
by LifeIsTooQuick
Summary: It is said in New York City you will run into the love of your life six times before you actually meet them. Full explanation inside. MM/RD PreRent
1. Brothers

_I've been toying with the idea of this story for a LONG time. And I mean LONG. I was first struck with the idea about a month after watching Rent for the first time. It was during "Light My Candle". I noticed Roger kept saying "You look familiar" and it reminded me of a commercial I once saw for the show "Six Degrees". The commercial said "It is said in New York City you will run into the love of your life six times before you meet them." (Or something like that, I can't remember the exact number, but I'm going with six because it works. :p) And I thought "How adorable would it be if Mimi and Roger kept running into each other before they officially met, but never noticed?" This was long before I actually entertained the idea of writing fanfic, but the idea struck me again the other day and I found myself writing this chapter. And after remembering how adorable a story this made for datagirl3's story about Mark and Emily I decided to give it a try. This will basically just be a collection of one-shots that chronicle moments throughout Roger and Mimi's lives where they ran into each other, but didn't know it._

_Thank you, Steph, once again._

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

"I want to see the lions!" Rebecca exclaimed. 

"We'll go see the lions next, Becca," Roger told her. They had just come out of the koala bear exhibit (Mark's favorite) and we're heading to the penguins (Roger's favorite).

"But why can't we go _now_?" she whined.

"Because the lions are all the way on the other side of the zoo and the penguins are right over there." Roger calmly explained to the five-year-old. Most thirteen-year-olds would hate to be stuck at the zoo walking their younger sister through the exhibits, but Roger loved it. The zoo and being with his sister. The fact that his best friend was helping him also helped things.

"I still say if you can manage to feed and care for it, all animals should be open to being kept as pets," Mark said, expressing for the thousandth time his chagrin at not being able to keep a koala bear as a pet.

"Don't let Maureen hear you say that," Roger laughed, "She thinks the zoos are bad enough. And they actually attempt to re-create a habitat. What do you think she would say to keeping a koala bear locked up in a small cage in someone's house?"

"Charlie wouldn't sleep in a cage. That would be cruel."

"Charlie?"

"Yes, that's his name."

"Mark, you're not getting a koala bear. Get over it. Even if the laws were different I don't think your mom would want to one in the house."

"But they're so cute and cuddly."

"Where would he sleep if he's not sleeping in a cage?" Rebecca asked. Her green eyes sparkling with curiosity beneath her blond pigtails.

"I don't think I want to know," Roger muttered to no one in particular.

"My bed with me, of course," Mark said and Roger laughed.

"See?_That's_ why I didn't want to know."

"You're sick and weird," Mark said, narrowing his eyes as Roger and Rebecca laughed hysterically.

"Kangaroos!" Rebecca suddenly exclaimed and she broke away from Roger's hold on her hand and sprinted across the courtyard to the kangaroos.

"Becca! Get back here!" Roger called before sprinting after her, Mark on his heels. They arrived just in time for Roger to pull Rebecca down off the fence she had been attempting to climb over. "Becca, you know what Mom said. We could walk off on our own if you stayed with Mark and me. And just what did you think you were doing, climbing that fence?"

He looked around to see if his mom was around and had seen her climbing the fence. They would be sent home immediately and Rebecca would probably get into trouble. Most people wouldn't see a five-year-old climbing a fence to see some kangaroos as a huge deal, but Roger's parents were pretty strict and anything they or their children did to stand out had to stop. Immediately.

But she wasn't there. The only other person standing t the kangaroo exhibit with them was a small Hispanic girl, who was leaning on the fence and staring morosely at the kangaroos. Roger shot her a small apologetic smile and she smiled timidly in response. She looked much cuter when she smiled. She then stopped leaning on the fence, fixed the red ribbon in her hair, and smoothed out her dress before resuming her staring at the kangaroos.

"I wanted to see the kangaroos!" she exclaimed matter-of-factly.

"Becca, they're right there," Roger said, pointing off to where the kangaroos sat, lounging around in their enclosure. Rebecca looked at Roger, then at the fence, then back at Roger. Roger realized what the problem was. Rebecca was short. So short, in fact, that she could not see over the fence. "Oh. Sorry, Becca. Here, get on my back. You have a smaller chance of falling off." So Mark helped her scramble onto Roger's back and she wrapped her arms around his neck, looking over at the kangaroos.

"I want to see them jump!" she announced after a few seconds. "Roger, make one jump!"

"Hey! You! Jump!" Roger called to the kangaroos. They just sat there. Although, one did turn to stare at him. "Sorry, Becca. They're not in a jumping mood."

The Hispanic girl began giggling at that and Roger couldn't hide a smile. She had a really pretty laugh.

"Put me in there, I'll make them jump!"

"Rebecca, what are you going to do? Hit them?" Mark asked, half-amused at the idea.

"No, I'm going to throw that rock at one." She pointed at a boulder way off in the distance in the enclosure. Roger and Mark burst out laughing. The rock was too big for Rebecca to climb over, let alone throw.

"Becca, don't hit the kangaroos. It's not nice. How would you feel if you were locked up in your room all day and then people started throwing things at you so you would do tricks?"

"I would bite them."

"Exactly," he laughed. "Just leave them alone. They're living beings and should be able to do what they want."

"And if they want to lay around soaking up the UV rays, then so be it," Mark agreed. Roger gave him a speculative look.

"What?"

"Dude, stop hanging around Maureen." They all started laughing.

* * *

Mimi hated the zoo. It was a very depressing place. All these beautiful, majestic creatures locked up in cages. No freedom, hardly any space, schedules for when they got to eat and run around and do things. They didn't get to do any of the things they would normally do in the wild. In a way they reminded Mimi of herself. Transported far away from their homes and families. All to be stuck in a cage and gawked at by people who expect them to run around and do tricks like they're in a circus or something. Only, in Mimi's case it was be a little slave. 

She looked around herself, wondering if Tony had noticed her disappearance yet. They had all come to the zoo as a family, but Mami had insisted Mimi and Tony spend some time together as brother and sister and had sent them off into the zoo together.

So far they had only seen what Tony had wanted to see, skipping the tigers and cheetahs Mimi had wanted to see and heading straight to the snakes. Mimi knew he had gone into the snake house just to spite Mimi because he knew she was terrified of them, but she went anyway. What else could she do? The worst part was most of the snakes were asleep, so Tony kept rapping on the glass, trying to wake them up. She waited until he was thoroughly distracted with the snakes before slipping out the back exit and hurrying away.

Now she was somewhere else in the zoo. She was pretty sure she was lost, but she didn't care. It was better to be lost and away from the Tony then knowing exactly where she with him. Looking around, she noticed the kangaroo pen and wondered over to it. She liked kangaroos. She thought it was adorable how the mothers kept their children safe and under control by carrying them around in those little pouches. When she was younger Mimi remembered reading this story about a kangaroo who had no pouch. Mimi felt so bad for her, because she and her son couldn't join in the kangaroo basketball games. But in the end she met a handyman who gave her his apron which had tons of pockets in it and she could carry all of the other forest's little animals in her pockets, including her own son. It was a very cute story.

"Becca! Get back here!" a voice rang out behind Mimi. She turned around to see a small blond haired girl throw herself at the fence next to Mimi and continue to climb over it. Mimi was shocked. If she ever tried to do anything like that she would get slapped for sure. Not that she didn't ever want to. She had wanted to many times. Especially when she was short and couldn't see over the fence. But that didn't change the fact that she would receive a small beating for it.

The girl was quickly joined by a boy who looked older than Mimi. He grabbed onto the girl and pulled her back, down off of the fence

"Becca, you know what Mom said," he scolded her. "We could walk off on our own if you stayed with Mark and me. And just what did you think you were doing, climbing that fence?"

He looked over at Mimi and shot her an apologetic smile. Mimi instinctively smiled back slightly, feeling her heart skip a beat. She leaned back away from the fence, fixed the red ribbon in her hair, and smoothed out her dress. She then attempted to stare at the kangaroos, but kept glancing over at the other two, who had by now been joined by another boy. This one looked to be about the first boy's age and had glasses on.

"I wanted to see the kangaroos!" "Becca" exclaimed matter-of-factly.

"Becca, they're right there," the first boy said, pointing off to where the kangaroos sat, lounging around in their enclosure. "Becca" did a cute double-take where she alternated between staring at the boy and the fence.

"Oh." the boy said, "Sorry, Becca. Here, get on my back. You have a smaller chance of falling off." Mimi watched in fascination as the two boys worked to get the small girl onto his back so she could see. Tony would never do that for Mimi. Not that he ever needed to. Throughout most of their childhood Tony and Mimi were roughly the same height. It was only recently that Tony began to grow taller than Mimi.

"I want to see them jump!" "Becca" announced after a few seconds. "Roger, make one jump!"

Mimi felt a very slight annoyance at the girl. She was treating them like circus acts. But then Mimi realized how small the girl was and knew she wasn't doing it to be mean. She just wanted to see the kangaroos act they way they did on TV.

"Hey! You! Jump!" "Roger" called to the kangaroos. They just sat there. Although, one did turn to stare at him. "Sorry, Becca. They're not in a jumping mood."

Mimi began giggling. She didn't mean to laugh at the boy, but he just looked pretty ridiculous yelling at the kangaroos to jump. But his sister had wanted to see them jump, so he decided to at least try. Mimi thought it was sort of sweet. She was once again visited by the thought of "Tony would never do that for me". "Roger" smiled at her again and she turned back tot eh kangaroos, hoping he didn't see the blush she could feel.

"Put me in there, I'll make them jump!"

"Rebecca, what are you going to do? Hit them?" The other boy asked.

"No, I'm going to throw that rock at one." She pointed at a boulder way off in the distance in the enclosure. Mimi thought that wasn't very nice of her. She shouldn't be throwing rocks at the poor kangaroos. Then she noticed that the rock was bigger than the child and couldn't hide smiling. This, she felt, she should be able to do, as the boys were both laughing hysterically.

"Becca, don't hit the kangaroos," "Roger" finally said once he had gotten his laughter under control, "It's not nice. How would you feel if you were locked up in your room all day and then people started throwing things at you so you would do tricks?"

Mimi felt a wave of respect for the boy. She wanted to start talking to him, but was too afraid of what would happen if Tony or Jose caught her talking to a boy without her parents' permission.

"I would bite them."

Mimi's smile grew bigger. The little girl was adorable. Mimi had always wanted a little sister and she ever got one she wanted her to be just like "Becca".

"Exactly," "Roger" laughed. "Just leave them alone. They're living beings and should be able to do what they want."

"And if they want to lay around soaking up the UV rays, then so be it," The other boy agreed. "Roger" turned and Mimi had to work hard to hold back her laughter at the identical speculative looks on his and sister's faces.

"What?" the boy exclaimed.

"Dude, stop hanging around Maureen." "Roger" said and then they all started laughing. Mimi didn't get the joke, but assumed you must have to know this "Maureen" girl to understand, so she didn't feel too stupid.

"Lucia!" a voice called out behind her. Mimi flinched instinctively as Tony came walking over to her. He always called her "Lucia", so did Jose. Mimi hated it. She loved "Mimi" it was the nickname Alejandro, her real brother, had given her when they were little. It was special. Jose and Tony didn't think so. "You little dipshit, what the hell happened to you? You were supposed to stay with me and you didn't. wait until Dad hears about this. You're going to be in so much trouble."

And just like that Mimi's moderately tolerable day was ruined.

* * *

Roger was debating whether he should talk to the girl who was standing at the kangaroo pen with them. She looked younger than Roger and Mark, but she also seemed really nice. He at least wanted to find out what her name was. The name question was answered almost as soon as it had formed in Roger's head via a boy who looked to be about Roger and Mark's age walking over to her. 

"Lucia!" he called out behind her. "Lucia" flinched slightly before turning to face him. "You little dipshit, what the hell happened to you? You were supposed to stay with me and you didn't. wait until Dad hears about this. You're going to be in so much trouble." Lucia looked close to tears.

"I'm sorry, Tony. I really hate snakes. I told you that. I was just over here."

"The snakes are practically on the other side of the zoo, moron. If you didn't like them you should've just stood outside and waited for me. Or, better yet, just sucked it up and stayed there. God, you are such a little wimp!" He smacked her in the back of the head and Roger saw tears slip silently down her face, though she tried to hide it from "Tony".

Roger couldn't believe this kid was acting like such a jerk to her. He was her brother, he was supposed to be protecting her and looking out for her, not hitting her and making her cry.

"Now you're crying? Jesus, you are such a baby! Let's go! I'm hungry and we were supposed to meet Mom and Dad ten minutes ago!" he grabbed the girl's arm and jerked her hard to make her start moving. Roger saw her flinch again as the boy's grip dug into her arm.

Roger slipped Rebecca off his back and set her down next to Mark before walking over to the boy.

"Roger," Mark said in a tone Roger heard often. It meant "Think about what you're doing before you end up in major trouble". He used it often and Roger barely listened. As far as Roger was concerned there were some thing that were worth getting into trouble for. Like pouring paint all over the kid who's picking on the new bespectacled **(A/N: Heehee, great word. :p) **kid in pre-school; or putting frogs into the desk of the teacher who called you a "useless second-grade screw-up"; or breaking the arm of the sixth grader who thinks he can steal Rebecca's doll and throw it in the mud. Telling off the jackass who's picking at his sister definitely fell into that category.

"Hey!" he shouted, walking after the two. "Tony" turned around and gave Roger a dirty look.

"What do _you_ want?" he sneered, still grabbing "Lucia's" arm in what looked like a very painful way.

"I don't like the way you're treating your sister," Roger said, folding his arms across his chest and glaring at the kid. This was how he gauged what exactly he was dealing with. Nine out of ten times the kid's eyes would bug out of his sockets and he would stutter some excuse out before running away in fear. Those were the easy ones. This was not one of those times.

"Oh yeah? Well, that's just too bad. Because she's _my_ sister and I'll treat her however the hell _I_ want to." As if to prove this he shoved the girl really hard so she hit the pavement and skinned her knee. She, surprisingly, jut sat up and looked at her knee, dusting gravel off and seeming to judge how bad it was. No tears, no exclamation of pain. It just made Roger angrier. Because if she could be so methodical about _this_ injury, that meant she had been through many others.

"What the hell is your problem?" Roger shouted at him. Mark and Rebecca had caught up to them now and Mark, bless him, was holding onto Rebecca's hand, stopping her from jumping forward to help her big brother in his battle. She had a tendency to do that and then had a tendency to get injured which then lead to Roger getting in trouble and Rebecca feeling obligated to be his personal slave for a day. Roger always just ordered her to grab a movie and watch it with him. It didn't seem right to boss her around when she was the one who got injured in the first place.

"Right now it's you." He glanced over at "Lucia" who was still examining her knee. "And her. But she's always a problem, so she doesn't really count." He laughed at his own joke and Roger resisted the urge to punch him.

"Seriously, what's wrong with you? She's your sister! In fact, she's your_younger_ sister. There's a reason you were born first. It's so you can look out for her and take care of her. You're supposed to be protecting her from jerks, not acting like one. And you're supposed to have her back, not trying to get her into as much trouble as possible."

"Who died and made you ruler of the world?" he turned away from Roger and kicked "Lucia" "Come on! _I _don't want to get in trouble because you're busy being a-" He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence because Roger punched him in the face sending him flying into a trash can. Roger heard Rebecca let out a cheer behind him and attempt to run toward him, her free hand held out for a high five, but Mark held her back, looking in fear behind Roger, all the color drained from his face. Roger turned around to see a Hispanic couple running toward them.

"Hey, punk! What the hell do you think you're doing hitting my son?" the man yelled at him. The woman bent down next to "Tony" and helped him to his feet, checking to see if he was ok, before turning to her daughter whom she then noticed was also on the ground. "Why don't you go pick on someone your own size?"

"I'm sorry, he's not my size?" roger asked, looking over at "Tony" who was almost as tall as himself, "What, is he wearing stilts right now?" Mark and Rebecca laughed at that one and Roger even saw "Lucia" crack a smile, though she quickly hid it.

"You get the hell away from my family before I call the cops on you," the man spat, ignoring Roger's flippant remark. Roger was going to argue, but figured it wouldn't be worth it. So he took one lost glance at the girl, who now had her mother practically falling over her as if a skinned knee was the worst injury in the world, before turning around and walking back to Mark and Rebecca.

"Come on. Let's go before he decides to find out who our parents are," Roger said, taking Rebecca's hand and heading toward the lion cages.

* * *

Mimi sat on the ground watching the kids leave. She only half-listened as Tony told his sob story about the boy who had come up and pushed Mimi and how when Tony tried to stand up to him he had punched him. Mimi didn't bother countering the story with the truth. What was the point? Jose would never believe her and she would only get into more trouble. 

So she just sat and watched the kids walk away, un-able to stop a small smile. For the first time in her life someone had actually stood up to her brother for her. She sighed. Why couldn't _he_ be her brother?

* * *

_So there's my first story. Just to warn everybody, this is not going to be a religiously updated story. This is just going to be something I write when I feel like it and have become the victim of writer's block for whatever story I am currently working on. So I have no idea when I will next update. Could be in a week, could be in a month. But I will eventually finish it. It'll just take a while._


	2. Something Worth Living For

_Ok, here's the second chapter. I know it took a while but, like I said, I only write in this when I have writer's block with my other stories. Which is the case right now, sort of. It's not actually writer's block, since I know what I want to write, I'm just not in the mood to write it. :p So, until then you guys get the second chapter of this fabulous story. :p_

_Thanx, once again, to Steph._

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

Finally. Senior year. Roger hated school. And he had finally reached the last year he would ever have to sped in this Hell hole. This was also the last year he would have to spend at home. He had to admit, after leaving he was sure he would miss Rebecca and Marie, but he couldn't wait to get away from his parents.

Roger and Maureen were planning on going to New York University, while Mark and Benny were going to Brown University. They weren't exactly close to each other, but they were only about a three hours' drive away; close enough to visit each other on weekends. More importantly, they were away from Roger's parents. Roger was seriously looking forward to having his own place in the big city. Even if it was just the crappy two bedroom apartment he and Maureen were sharing.

"So, how's your second week been going so far?" an annoying and highly un-wanted voice spoke behind Roger. Brianna. Roger's ex-girlfriend. Although you would never guess that the way she acted. Brianna was convinced she and Roger were going to get back together and marry each other someday.

Roger blamed Kayla. Kayla was Roger's cousin, and Brianna's best friend. It was her idea that the two go out in the first place. Encouraged by his parents who thought they were a match made in heaven, Roger decided to go out with the girl just to appease them. He figured he could last a year and a half until he graduated and then make careful plans to never see the she-demon again.

But he had barely lasted half a year before breaking up with her before Summer break. And ever since, Kayla and Brianna tried their best to get the two back together. This plan consisted of following Roger around wherever he went. Like now. While Roger was trying to make his way to lunch. Looks like that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Sure enough, when Roger turned around there stood two teenage girls each with hair so blond it had to be fake.

"Hey, Bri. Kayla." Wrong thing to say. Brianna immediately smiled at the nickname Roger always used for her. To her it was a sign of affection. In reality it was just laziness. Roger didn't like pronouncing all the syllables.

"So, Rogey, how has your week been?" Brianna gushed, displaying her own sickening "affectionate" nickname she had dubbed Roger with. She wasn't a very original girl. Evil, yes. But not original.

"Well, it _was_ going pretty well." She failed to notice the implication.

"Hide me!" Another teenage girl, this one with wild, curly brown hair shot out of nowhere and ducked behind Roger.

"Hello… _Maureen_." Kayla practically hissed the word.

For reasons Roger could never quite work out, Kayla and Brianna hated Maureen. Well, ok, so Roger could understand _now_. Maureen hated them and everything they stood for. Being rich, popular bitches who acted as if they (and in some instances did) ruled the school. But in her defense she only became this way after Kayla and Brianna started acting like bitches to her.

In their Freshmen year the two had stolen paint from the art room and arranged to have it dumped on Maureen in the middle of the lunchroom. They completely ruined Maureen's favorite shirt; it was one of the very few times Roger had seen Maureen cry. It was also one of the very, very few times he had ever seen Mark stand up for someone. But he did. He just stood up right in the middle of the lunchroom and screamed at the kid who had been convinced by the two demons to dump the paint on her. The fight quickly got physical and resulted in a black eye for Mark and a week of detention for them both. Ever since two things had been on-going: Maureen and Mark's now romantic relationship and Maureen's undeclared war on the B-squareds ("blond bitches").

Roger had suspicions for why the girls didn't like Maureen to begin with. He would never voice them out loud of course, since they sounded conceited, even to himself. He was pretty sure the two thought Maureen had feelings for Roger and/or vice-versa. Which was ridiculous. Roger had been best friends with Maureen since she moved in next door to him back in elementary school, but his feelings for her had only been strictly platonic. Mark was always the one who had the huge (and obvious to everyone except Maureen) crush.

"Roger, hide me!" she exclaimed again, ignoring Kayla's hiss.

"What did you do now?" Roger asked. It was only the second week and Maureen had apparently already managed to get herself into trouble. **(A/N: The following is based on a true story. :p)**

"Mrs. Sleepy," she said in barely a whisper, as if the teacher could hear her if she spoke the name loudly enough. "Mrs. Sleepy", of course, was not her real name. it was "Mrs. Bartrum", but practically the entire school called her "Mrs. Sleepy" behind her back. This was because she taught English, one of the most boring subjects in Roger's opinion, and she, apparently, shared Roger's thoughts on the subject as she fell asleep practically everyday in every hour. She would set the class to reading a story out loud and then good night, lights out. Sometimes she would lean on one hand and hold a pen in the other while looking down to make it look as if she were grading papers when, in fact, she was just sleeping.

"How did she find out it was you?" Roger asked, shocked. He, of course, knew what Maureen was talking about as soon as she mentioned who was after her. This was Roger, Mark, and Maureen's second year having Mrs. Sleepy and so they pretty much knew the routine. But Maureen noticed something new at the end of their first week back: one of the legs on Mrs. Sleepy's desk was pretty much broken. She discovered it when they had a sub and he accidentally bumped it, bending the leg in and sending the desk lurching foreword. The sub had caught it and was one of those cool ones, so he just laughed about it and got some students to help him fix it up so the desk stayed standing and no one would know it was broken.

Only Roger noticed the wheels turning in Maureen's head and feared what this meant. Then yesterday after Mrs. Sleepy had been asleep for a good ten minutes Maureen got up to sharpen her pencil and "accidentally" bumped the leg again. The result was about five to ten minutes of sheer hilarity and chaos. Mrs. Sleepy's head shot up as her pillow disappeared beneath her, spilling all of her papers onto the floor. The desk also managed to knock into several other students desks which sent their desks flying. The look on Mrs. Sleepy's face was truly priceless. Maureen had slunk back to her seat before anyone else could notice she had been up. **(A/N: End True Story. :p)**

So how the hell had she found her out?

"I don't know!" Maureen exclaimed, "_Someone_," on this she shot the B-squareds a dirty look, "Must have ratted me out to her." Of course. Why didn't Roger realize that? Both B-squareds were in their 2nd hour English class. If it weren't for the fact that Roger had all three of his best friends in that class as well it wouldn't be worth it and he would just skip. There were so many other better things he could be doing with his time.

"What? Us?" Kayla asked, putting on an innocent expression, "Why would we waste our valuable time talking to a practically comatose teacher just to get you into trouble? You really need to get over yourself, Maureen." She then smirked at Brianna, ruining the effect of her argument.

"For future reference, Kayla, once you're sure you've backed the enemy into a corner with denial you do not share your victory 'we totally got away with this' smirk until they _can't_ see you," another voice said, joining them. Roger turned to find Mark and Benny heading toward them. Benny was the one who had spoken. This was one of the reasons Roger liked him so much. He was so good at using logic to totally shoot people down when they were acting all high and mighty and "We're better than you." Plus when he tried he could be one of the funniest guys Roger ever knew. "Because, you see, if you do it while they can still see you, you kind of end up giving yourself away."

"Hello, Benny," Kayla said, the smirk completely gone from her face. Kayla hated Benny almost as much as she hated Maureen, although she managed to not hiss his name. Roger honestly could not think of a single reason why Kayla would hate Benny. The only real faults Roger could find in Benny, like his over-ambitious view on getting as ahead as possible in life and everything else to the point that he sometimes became an annoying, selfish prick, were things Kayla both had and loved. Logically, the two should be best friends. But they weren't. It was one of the mysteries of the world.

"So, how have everybody's classes been?" Mark asked, his arm now around Maureen's waist. That was just like Mark. Every time things started to get interesting he did his best to dispel the hostility. Roger was _never_ going to have any fun today.

"They're pretty good," Brianna butt in before anyone else could respond, "Except for this one girl. Ugh. I cannot _stand_ her."

"Are you talking about the beaner?" Kayla asked, looking as disgusted as Brianna was. Roger was about to rip into Kayla for being so rude about a girl she barely knew when Maureen beat him to the punch.

"Oh, wow. Yeah, Kayla, that is just _so_ like you. Be a total racist bitch to some girl the second week back. What the hell could she possibly have done to you?"

"She is _so_ annoying!" Brianna exclaimed, "And she's such a little teacher's pet! She thinks she's all that because she's a little Freshman in our class. But she is totally not. I mean, she may look like she might be pretty and everything, but she wears, like, _no_ make-up, her hair goes all over the place, and don't even get me started on her clothes. And she's _such_ a little know-it-all. She answers all the questions in our class, she's gotten 100 on, like, everything we've done so far. Ugh! It's _so_ annoying."

"Not to mention what a little freak she is," Kayla agreed, "She doesn't talk or do _anything_. She actually spends time in school, doing her homework. She obviously has no life whatsoever."

Roger couldn't believe his ears. Well, it was Kayla and Brianna so in a way he could, but still. It sounded to him like this girl was just smarter than Kayla and Brianna, she was a Freshman in a Junior class, after all, and they were Seniors who were held back in a Junior class. _That_ was why they hated her? Roger was about to argue with them but before he, or Maureen who looked even angrier than he felt, could say anything Brianna was talking again.

"Oh my God! There she is!" she pointed down the hallway at a small Hispanic girl walking down the hall. She was carrying what appeared to be the entire contents of her locker in her arms and seemed to be lost in her own world, not paying any attention to the world around her.

Which was why she never saw Brianna stick her foot out in front of her.

* * *

Finally. Lunch. Mimi hated school. Once she made it to lunch that meant she was half-way through her day. The rest of the day was slightly easier. It was also easier to avoid her fellow classmates during lunch. She would just take the lunch she had packed for herself outside and sit down under one of the trees in the courtyard farthest away from the rest of the students. Then she got a nice, quiet half hour of eating lunch and doing homework. She had no idea what she would do when the whether got colder and it started snowing. She would probably just go out by the tree anyway. It was better than being stuck in the cafeteria with those demons.

Not that she planned on sticking around long enough for it to start snowing outside. She knew it would kill her mother, but she didn't care anymore. She had gotten past caring. Her life had gone straight to Hell and it just kept getting worse and worse as every day went by. Tony didn't make things any easier. Teasing her every chance he got and encouraging others to do the same. Weren't brothers supposed to look out for their younger sisters?

She wondered how everyone else would handle it. Her stepfather and stepbrother would probably just be pissed that there was no one around to do the housework for them. No one at school would care. She thought of those girls in her third hour Science class. Those two _definitely_ wouldn't miss her. They seemed to take an instant dislike to her the second she walked through the classroom door.

But how would she explain this to her mother? _Sorry Mami, you did a terrible job raising me in a home with no love and sticking me in a school that's even worse so I've given up_? That didn't seem like the right thing to do at all. She would work out what she would say once she got home. First she had to make it through the rest of her school day. It shouldn't be too hard. She had already lasted two weeks. She could last another four hours.

Then there was the question of _how_ she would do it. There were many different ways. All seemed painful. She was just contemplating whether downing a bunch of sleeping pills would be effective enough to not force her to slip into a coma or (even worse) survive completely when she felt something catch her leg.

She lurched forward, all of her books flying out of her hands and flying across the hallway. She slammed down on the ground, hard. She hadn't had enough time to break her impact completely, so she ended up slamming her knees, as well as the palms of her hands.

She could hear laughter all around her. The entire hall had stopped to watch the stupid Freshman going flying. Closest to her, Mimi could hear two unmistakable voices laughing. Brianna and Kayla. The girls who made her life Hell in Science. And every other chance they got. Like now. As Mimi attempted to push herself onto her knees she felt one of them kick at them, so she felt right back down again.

More laughter and now she could hear people muttering about the little freak who had fallen over. Mimi could feel hot tears stinging at her eyes and wanted to just die right there. She wouldn't wait until school got out, she would just go home right now, skip school, and…

"God, Bri, you don't have to be such a bitch." Mimi heard a different voice now. A guy's voice who, by the sound of his voice, was pissed. "Just because the girl's smarter than you is no reason to treat her like some second-class citizen."

Mimi looked up to see a boy a couple years older than her. He had short, dirty blond hair and the most amazing green eyes she had ever seen. Like the idiot that she was Mimi could only stare at him as he held out one of her books to her. He didn't look angry now. He looked sympathetic. Mimi took the book from him and tried to gather herself together enough to get up off the floor.

"Are you ok?" he asked, offering her his hand to help her up. Mimi took it wordlessly and let him pull her effortlessly to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she managed to mutter, before starting to look around for her scattered books. She saw them spread out as far as half-way down the hallway, but she didn't have to worry about picking them up. She could see three other teens, two boys and a girl spread out around the hallway, picking them up for her.

"I'm sorry about Brianna," he said. Mimi saw Brianna stalk off into the crowd, looking incredibly pissed of. Kayla ran behind her, trying to calm her down. Roger glared after them. "She can be a real bitch when she wants to be." He ran his hand through his hair and gave her a small smile. Mimi felt herself smile back at him in what she realized was the first genuine smile she had had in a long time.

"It's ok. I get stuff like that a lot," she looked away timidly, clutching her book closer to herself in reflex.

The others had come back with her books now and handed them wordlessly to her.

"Thank you," she mumbled quietly.

"No problem," the boy said and he smiled at her again, "So, I guess I'll see you around."

Mimi thought about that for a moment before another real smile lit her features.

"Yeah. Definitely."

The boy and his friends turned around ad walked back down the hallway, heading for the lunchroom. Mimi stared after them, a small smile playing on her lips. Maybe there were some things worth sticking around in this world for.

* * *

_And there's the second chapter. Don't count on an update soon. I know exactly what I'm going tow rite for the next chapter, but I want to get to a certain part in my next chapter story in my series before I post it. :p  
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